Disasters suffer West's "deadly neglect"-Red Cross

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1377774.htm

GENEVA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Natural disasters that kill thousands of people in poor countries and wreck the lives of many more are made worse by long-term "deadly neglect" by richer nations, the global Red Cross body IFRC said on Thursday.

The grouping, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, also said in its annual World Disasters Report that Western self-interest drives much media coverage of disasters and humanitarian crises.

"The past two years have seen unprecedented attention lavished on disasters by the media, by the public and by aid organisations across the world," said IFRC Secretary General Markku Niskala in an introduction to the report.

"Yet for every crisis that takes centre stage, there are a dozen more waiting in the wings for a walk-on part."

The report identified some of these as malnutrition and starvation due to drought in Malawi, social decay and crime in Guatemala, childbirth mortality in Nepal, and the death at sea of hundreds of would-be migrants from Africa to Europe.

Last year's record hurricane season in the Caribbean region, the South Asia earthquake that hit Pakistan and India, and the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004 "combined to catapult so-called 'natural' disasters into the limelight," said Niskala.

RECORD RESPONSE

The response had been a record of over $17 billion in international emergency assistance, according to the report.

"Yet millions missed out on vital, potentially life-saving aid because funds were directed at high-profile disasters, while countless other crises were neglected," the IFRC said.